t.rast.to.vect(1grass)

💖 t.rast.to.vect 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is t.rast.to.vect from the GRASS User's Manual and it is literally the glow-up machine for your temporal data. It takes a space time raster dataset and turns it into a space time vector dataset. raster ➡️ vector. the pipeline is serving, the timeline is intact, it's giving transformation. ✨

🌸 KEYWORDS 🌸

temporal, conversion, raster, vector, time

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

t.rast.to.vect
t.rast.to.vect --help
t.rast.to.vect [-ntszbv] input=name output=name  [where=sql_query]
type=string basename=string  [suffix=name]   [column=string]
[nprocs=integer]   [--overwrite]  [--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]
[--ui]

✨ Flags ✨

• -n — Register empty vector maps 💀 yes, the empty ones get registered too
• -t — Do not create attribute tables (no tables, no problem)
• -s — Smooth corners of area features 🦋 soft edges, soft life
• -z — Write raster values as z coordinate. Table is not created. Currently supported only for points. 📍
• -b — Do not build vector topology. Name must be SQL compliant.
• -v — Use raster values as categories instead of unique sequence (CELL only) 🔢
• --overwrite — Allow output files to overwrite existing files (bestie, this one bites, be careful 🙈)
• --help — Print usage summary
• --verbose — Verbose module output (it will NOT stop talking and honestly? iconic)
• --quiet — Quiet module output (shhh 🤫)
• --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

💅 Parameters 💅

• input=name [required] — Name of the input space time raster dataset
• output=name [required] — Name of the output space time vector dataset
• where=sql_query — WHERE conditions of SQL statement without 'where' keyword used in the temporal GIS framework. Example: start_time > '2001-01-01 12:30:00'
• type=string [required] — Output feature type. Options: point, line, area
• basename=string [required] — Basename of the new generated output maps. A numerical suffix separated by an underscore will be attached to create a unique identifier.
• suffix=name — Suffix to add at basename: set 'gran' for granularity, 'time' for the full time format, 'num' for numerical suffix with a specific number of digits (default %%05). Default: gran
• column=string — Name of attribute column to store value. Default: value
• nprocs=integer — Number of r.to.vect processes to run in parallel, more than 1 process works only in conjunction with flag -t. Default: 1

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🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

So t.rast.to.vect is designed to convert a space time raster dataset into a space time vector dataset. no cap, that's the whole job. This module works as a front-end to r.to.vect and therefore supports all parameter of this module. Hence, all raster map layers in a space time raster dataset are passed to r.to.vect that converts them into vector map layers (using point, line or area as conversion criteria). Please refer to the r.to.vect documentation for a detailed description of the raster to vector conversion options. The new generated vector map layers will be registered in the output space time vector dataset, using the same time stamps as their raster map layer origins. 🕐✨ like the timestamps stay aligned, the lore is preserved, we love to see it.

This module supports the parallel processing of r.to.vect module instances. The number of parallel processes can be set with the nprocs option. However, this will only work in conjunction with the -t flag, that avoids the creation of attribute tables. The parallel creation of attribute tables is not supported. ⚠️ so if you wanted parallel + attribute tables, bestie… that's simply not on the menu today.

The where option allows selecting subsets of the input space time raster dataset. 🎯 pick your faves, filter the timeline, main character selectivity.

The flag -n can be used to force the registration of empty vector map layers. Empty vector maps may occur in case that empty raster map layers should be converted into vector map layers. 💀 yes, sometimes the void itself gets registered. it's a whole thing.

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🌈 reminder that r.to.vect is doing the heavy lifting under the hood here — this module is the front-end, the hype woman, the manager. know your team.

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• r.to.vect
• t.rast.db.select
• t.info

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Sören Gebbert, Geoinformatikbüro Dassau

⭐ SOURCE CODE ⭐

Available at: t.rast.to.vect source code (history)

Latest change: Tuesday Jan 27 12:40:13 2026 in commit: 5e8b13d47dd4fc81efa5abefe90c34f7a8291fb9

Main index | Temporal index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 sending you off with the receipts: this one's from the GRASS 8.5.0 Reference Manual, © 2003-2026 GRASS Development Team, and the page itself is t.rast.to.vect(1grass) — go convert something pretty and don't forget your timestamps 💖✨🦋